The Making Of Top City Metal Supply
By INDIA YARBOROUGH
Photos by MIRANDA CHAVEZ-HAZIM
Neal Spencer, president and CEO of Ernest-Spencer, isn’t one to sit idle.
“I just love creating,” Spencer said. “My passion is to develop a good business idea, market and brand it, hire the right people, launch it, and then go on to the next deal.”
That mindset has helped him lead and grow Ernest-Spencer which is known for metal fabrication, custom coatings and specialty manufacturing, for the past 16 years. During that time, the local business has nearly quadrupled in size, he said, thanks to expansion efforts and the creation of new entities like Top City Logistics, a trucking company built from the Ernest-Spencer brand.
It’s also how Top City Metal Supply, a spinoff opened in April of this year, came to be. Now, from the $2 part to the $2 million deal, Ernest-Spencer’s portfolio has customers of all sizes covered.
DEVELOPING A NEW BRAND
“I had the idea five, six, seven years ago to do a retail division, because Ernest-Spencer gets a lot of walk-in inquiries,” Spencer said.
Those inquires often involved potential customers requesting small-scale metal pieces and welding jobs.
“Because of Ernest-Spencer’s size and the fact that our primary clients are large OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) who are working on multi-million-dollar projects,” he added, “the small stuff, if we took it, would interfere with the bigger picture.”
So, Spencer and his team came up with a solution — develop a space where anybody can walk in and not only buy metal pieces of varying sizes, but also commission quick-turnaround fabrication projects without interrupting Ernest-Spencer’s primary flow.
Since September, Ernest-Spencer has been fine-tuning the concept, dedicating warehouse space to the idea, creating a showroom, and working through website and brand development. On April 4, they officially opened Top City Metal Supply at 5600 S.W. Topeka Blvd., and the response from the public has been “tremendous,” Spencer said.
“The individuals who walk in for their crafts or projects are really happy that there is something available for them out here,” added Keith Williamson, retail sales manager for Top City Metal. “We have a lot of contractors. With the industrial parks that are around here, a lot of those customers are excited about having an opportunity to be right down the street.”
CATERING TO THE CUSTOMER
In fact, Ernest-Spencer’s 200,000-square-foot south Topeka location — which includes about 10,000-square-feet of warehouse space dedicated to Top City Metal — may be crucial to the company’s continued growth. Spencer said they are currently working on an addition to the Ernest-Spencer side that will house a new contract the company has secured.
“(The addition is) a 21,000-square-foot high-bay building that will house assembly of a new track crawler line,” he said. “It’s a track crawler that’s utilized in the forestry industry, so we’re pretty excited about that. It’s significant from a job-creation perspective and a revenue-growth perspective for Ernest-Spencer. We’ve got a lot of things going on.”
Back on the Top City Metal side, there is lots in the works, as well.
The business sells a variety of goods that mainly fall into one of two categories: unfabricated steel, like raw sheet metal, and fabricated surfaces, such as fitted metal brackets. All cutting, fabrication and the like is done on-site to meet current needs.
“I get people that come in, and they’ll want a 1-foot piece or they’ll want a full-length 20-foot piece,” Williamson said. “We’re able to cater to those customers.”
Upon entering Top City Metal Supply, patrons are greeted by a showroom where Top City Metal t-shirts and sweatshirts for sale hang on display, along with a handful of specialty stainless steel items, like wall art and license plates featuring some of the area’s favorite collegiate mascots.
Just beyond the showroom sits Top City Metal’s warehouse space, which is home to state-of-the-art equipment, including a plasma cutting table, and shelves of various metal products that come in different types and sizes.
“A big help for Top City is that, as a division of Ernest-Spencer, if there’s something I don’t have or I can’t get quick enough, Ernest-Spencer may have it,” Williamson said. “I’m able to utilize a lot of their resources.”
POISED FOR GROWTH, WITH ITS PEOPLE IN MIND
As for the items Top City Metal keeps stocked, the business will soon have a menu of available products and related prices on display in the showroom for inquiring customers. It’s a list that is likely to grow — along with the number of finished items available in the showroom itself — as the budding business takes note of what clients are looking for.
“As we grow, we’re going to continue to add different elements,” Spencer said, gesturing toward one example of a new product coming online — a customizable steel fire pit that Top City Metal will be able to make with just about any company logo, family crest or similar design.
“With Top City Metal Supply, we’re still trying to figure out where our long-term growth will be, but we see there’s tremendous amount of opportunity to grow within the city,” Spencer added. “On the Ernest-Spencer side, we’ve had exponential growth year over year that’s pretty tremendous, and we don’t see that trend stopping.”
A fourth-generation family business, Ernest-Spencer celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2022, and Spencer said he’s confident the company will endure for another century. He credits the people, because as the company’s products have evolved and facilities have changed, one thing has remained the same — its employee-first approach.
“My dad, before he passed away years ago, he always said, ‘Value your people. Surround yourself with good people, and provide opportunities,’” Spencer said. “We wouldn’t be anything without the people that work at Ernest-Spencer.”
In fact, it may be why some of the company’s more than 200 employees have been there for decades.
“That wouldn’t happen if we weren’t a good place to be,” Spencer said.
